Toy grenade



W. D. KEMP.

I 10v GRENADE. APPLICATION FILED JULY H. I919.

1,348,224. Patented Aug. 3. 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER nEwITT KEMP, oF vEW YORK, 11. Y.

TOY GRENADE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

Application filed July 1 1, 1919. Serial No. 310,108.

' be thrown against a surface in a manner whereby, upon the impact of acertain peripheral portion, a detonation is produced without injury tothe ball.

Another object is to producea toy particularly' appropriate for boys asan outdoor sport by means of which the muscles of the hand and fingersmay be developed and skill acquired in accuracy of handling a ball,particularly with reference to the manipulation of the fingers aroundthe ball and the skilful grasping, controlling and hurling the ball insuch a manner as to cause a predetermined point thereon to make contactwith the surface struck. It is well known that professional base ballpitchers acquire and make use of such fineness 01' control. Theinvention affords a useful and ready means to the boy of measuring ordetermining this ability. 7

A further object is the provision of a ball having a vari-coloredexterior in each colored section of which is engaged a paper diskcontaining materials adapted to detonate upon concussion and to emit acorrespondingly colored smoke or gas therefrom.

These and other objects are accomplished by means of suchstructure andnovel arrangement of parts as are hereinafter described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this disclosure, and whichare to' be considered as illustrative and descriptive only and not, asrestrictive or limitative, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective viewillustrating the ball and results attained thereby;

Fig. 2 is an elevationalview of a ball made in accordance with theinvention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the same;

Fig. 4: is a partial sectional view thereof,

I .taken onv the line 4:4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a similar fragmentary sectional view showing a modified formof construction.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral views.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the numeral 10 will be seen todesignate a side walk, and 11 the wall of a building or the like,presenting a rigid surface against which the hand ball, generallydesignated by the numeral 12, may come in forcible contact, when thrown.These balls are preferably made of a resilient wood or of rubber orfiberoid and of the size of an ordinary base ball. The ball may beconstructed with a single detonating unit, but in the adaptationlllustrated, three units are shown and the exterior of the ball iscolored red, white 15 and 16, forming tri-colored segments as indicated.This permits of a game being played, which will be referred to later.

Secured centrally in each of the several segments are metal plates oranvils 17, the same being slightly below the peripheral surface of thesphere and held therein by undercut edges, tacks, spurs, cement, or thelike. In the modification shown in Fig. 5, in place of the plate 17, thehead 21 of a barbed brad or nail 22 may be used as the anvil element, ifwood is employed, with equally efiective results. Disposed over theseanvil elements are leaf-like cover plates 18 formed with angularlyextending elements 19adapted to be forced radially into the material ofthe ball in the manner of brads or spurs, or, if a rubber ball, solid orhollow, be used, the elements 19 may be suitably cemented, whereby thecover plates are resiliently but permanently secured. Between the fixedplates I7 and the cover plates 18 are recesses adapted to receive disksor paper capsules containing material adapted to detonate by the.percussion of the ball with a surface, affording considerable noise. Theedges of the cover plates 18, as well as of the anvil elements 17, maybe curved slightly, in

.order to assist in holding the capsules in place. The material in thecapsules is also adaptedto liberate colored smoke or gas,

'when exploded. Thus when the ball is thrown against a surface, a reporttakes vplace accompanied by the liberation of colored smoke, the smokecorresponding in color to the color of the segments of the ball in whichthe caps are confined. It is obvious that the ball must be thrown withsuch accuracy and precision that the relatively small area presented byand blue, as indicated by the numerals 14,

the resilient cover plate, 18 is the part of the ball which is caused tocome in contact with the surface struck, or the noise and smoke makingproperty of the ball remains quiescent. V

The preferred manner of playing a game with the adaptation illustratedis to load the three recesses with paper caps which produce red, whiteand blue smoke, respectively- Throw the ball on the sidewalk so as tocause the cover plate 18 holding the cap producing the red smoke tostrike the sidewalk and explode the cap; catch the ball as it rebounds,and quickly and with such accuracy of manipulation of the hand andfingers and before the red smoke has become dissipated, throw it againto the sidewalk, this time in such manner as to cause the cap containingthe white smoke to explode; similarly catch the ball on the thirdrebound and as quickly as possible throw it again to the sidewalk insuch a manner that the cap containing the blue smoke will explode. Ifthese several actions are skilfully performed, the three explosionsoccur in sufficiently quick sucbe exploded before the first smoke hasbecome dissipated; and finally, to see who forms the nearest approach tothe shape and appearance of the flag through the blending of theliberated smoke waves as they become dissipated in the air.

New caps are entered'into the recesses as they become exhausted, and asnew ones are lnserted they push the remains of the old ones out.

V sired; and thatthe free end of the cover It should be noted that anyselective combination of colors may be thus produced,

such, asthe national colors of any foreign country, or the colors of aschool, fraternity, club, etc., a ball containing a larger number of thedetonating units being used, if deplate 18 may be curved slightly,inwardly, in order; to protectit somewhat, and a small groove ordepression may extend in the.

surface of the ball, immediately thereunder, to accommodate the curvedend of the cover plate, upon concussion. Obviously, minor modificationsmay be made within the scope of the invention. 7

The various elements may be. constructed 7 in any suitable size andshape and they may be made of any selective kind of. material,

the concussion of said so long as the various members of'the combinationcoact and cooperate to perform the functions and produce the resultscontemplated, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1.- 'An unrestrained hand ball, comprising a sphere and means incombination therewith for producing noise and emitting smoke uponconcussion of a predetermined point on the surface of the ball withasolid surface. I

)2. A ball comprising a free unconfined sphere, a detonating'unitengageable at a definite point on the circumference of said sphere, andmeans for holdingsaid detonating unit in close relation to the surfaceof said sphere, said holding means permitting the removal of said unit.

3. A handball comprisinga sphere having a substantially non-protuberantsurface, an'

anvilelement embedded below the surface of the sphere, and a resilientclip extending 7 sphere, and a spring plate secured in said surface andextending over-said anvil element, forming a space therebetween adaptedpresenting a space to receive a capsule containing fulminating material,said plate and sa d anvil element adapted to hold said capsule inconfinement normally and to detonate the same upon con' cussion of saidplate on said sphere with a solid object, said plate being substantiallyflush with the surface of the sphere.

5. A hand ball comprising an unconfined solid sphere having asubstantially non-pro tuberant surface, a metallic anvil elementinserted in the surface ofsaid ball, a plate secured to the peripheral.surface of said i I sphere extending. oversaid anvil. element forming aspace therebetween, and a paper capsule containing fulminating materialdis posed between said plate and anvil wherebyj it is held inconfinement and detonated upon a plate on said sphere with a surface.

6. A hand ball comprising a sphere, its surface being divided intocolored segments,

metallic anvil elements inserted centrallyin ea'chof said segments,spring platessecured to the peripheral surface'of said. sphere'extending over said anvilelementsforming a space therebetwe'en, andpaper capsules con-Q taining 'fulmin'ating' material disposed be- 7tween said spring plates and anvils whereby said capsules are held inconfinement and detonated uponthe concussion of'sai d plates on saidsphere with a solid surface.

A toycomprising ahand ball havi-ngla s several-colored segmentalexterior, said ball containing a plurality of recesses, metallic anvilsfixed in said ball at the bottom of the mentioned recesses, metalliccover plates disposed over said anvils, means for engaging said coverplates to the surface ofsaid ball, and paper capsules disposed belowsaid cover plates upon said anvils, said capsules being filled with amaterial adapted to deto- 10 nate and to produce diversely colored smokeor gas upon percussive contact of said cover plates with a rigid object.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of witnesses, this 10th day of July, 1919.

WALTER DEWITT KEMP.

Witnesses:

FRANK P. HOFFMAN, ESTELLE SOHULMAN.

